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Yashovardhan Gupta an MBA from the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad was happily working with Mr. Naveen Jindal, Chairman and MD of JSPL when his father convinced him to quit his job and return to the family business. Gupta agreed but realized a few things need to be changed in the operations of the family business in order to update it with the modern way of functioning. The problem identification was easier part when the larger task was to consider – the swift hiring and firing decisions, technology revamp and selling the idea that the old business model had run its course and would not scale further.

Gupta found it extremely hard to sell the new vision and with consistent internal resistance, and eventually arrived at the decision of creating a separate entity, Torero. The initiative was meant to leverage the capabilities of his family business, while building a new culture and brand that would be more pliant to his future plans. The next step was to identify and pitch to a brand that would take them on as partner.

The breakthrough

“I had very clear criteria when it came to identifying my potential partner – a well-known brand, no manufacturing prowess, not part of a major luxury house, and looking to extend the brand into leather accessories, specifically for men. These lucid checkpoints, brought CROSS into the picture,” informs Gupta. Gupta visited CROSS headquarters and other offices in Europe over a dozen times before being able to convince the board to award an exclusive long-term license for the brand name. Today Yashovardhan Gupta boasts of acquiring exclusive license of some very powerful global brands like Cross – 2013, Police – 2016 and Hack Safe – 2017 and also of achieving successful penetration in major global markets namely, USA, UK, Europe, India and UAE.

Bagging the Red Dot Design Award on June 29, 2015

Often referred to as the Nobel of Design, the Red Dot design awards, held since 1955, is arguably the biggest design award in the world. Torero Corporation Private Limited is the only Indian company to consecutively receive the prestigious Red Dot Design Award two years in a row - in 2015 & 2016 respectively from among 5000 entries.

“The wallet is a revolutionary item equipped with an anti-theft and anti-loss technology that allows you to keep track of your possession. We achieved global recognition after winning the prestigious award and it reinforced a sense of faith amongst the buyers and the parent organisation,” asserts Yashovardhan.

The paramount attribute is focus. It may seem like an easy task but most of the entrepreneurs falter here as, at any given point of time, there are many distracting forces when trying to build a business. The other essential attribute is the ability to weather the ups and downs of any business, since it almost never goes exactly the way the blueprint was designed. And most importantly, sell! Every entrepreneur is a sales person whether they want to be or not. You will always find yourself selling your ideas, products or services to customers, investors, and employees.

Five reasons why one should take up entrepreneurship

“Start at any point,” confirms Gupta and explains, “Age is but a number and is irrelevant when you want to start something of your own. The world is full of such examples, be it - Harland David Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken, in 1952, at the age of 62, Sanders franchised his “Kentucky Fried Chicken” for the first time; Cory Nieves, owner of the Mr. Cory's Cookies now 12, became the owner of Mr. Cory's Cookies at the ripe old age of six. Just keep in mind the following five:

The very first reason to start your venture should be a clear vision. If you know what you want to do, then sky is the limit.

The second reason is that you get to pursue your passion, starting your own business allows you to make a living while pursuing something for which you have a strong passion.

The third reason is the new lifestyle, starting a business is the best way to give up on the 9 to 5 regime. In most cases, the work hours might actually be more than what you had in mind but you get to control your work hours and choose a flexible schedule.

The opportunity to express yourself. Your business is your canvas and what you do out of it, shows the world who you are. The freedom to change the work process, etc. brings in a multitude of opportunities for innovation.

Creating jobs in the market is another encouragement. If you have always wanted to help the economy then there is no better way than to create jobs. You get to build careers and touch lives in a phenomenal way.

Entrepreneurship and Bengal

“The entrepreneurship scenario in Bengal,” according to Yashovardhan, “has witnessed a major paradigm shift and Bengal has come a long way. Besides, today becoming an entrepreneur is easier than before -- technology is shrinking the world, opening markets, and making it possible for many people to strike out on their own in the field of their dreams. In a very recent statement, Chief Minister, Mamata Bannerjee had expressed willingness to encourage start-ups.

Torero all set to change the face of entrepreneurship in Bengal

Torero Corporation is in the process of investing $8 million in plant, machinery, R&D and promotion to tap the $500 million premium leather accessories market in India aggressively. “We have a very clear growth path, which include opening 10 stores by the end of 2017, increase our point of sales in India from 300 to 400 by the end of 2017. However, the focus would be international expansion, and we would focus on increasing our global presence by increasing the point of sales from 1500 to 4000 by the end of 2017,” informs Gupta.